Real Madrid 2024/25: the Bernabéu is now on the balance sheet

The Bernabéu is now on the balance sheet —and it has started to pay off. The 2025/26 season brings the club's highest-ever EBITDA and the first time above 1.200 M€ in revenue.

Assets — the Bernabéu reshapes the balance sheet#

Between 2019 and 2025, tangible fixed assets rise from 350 M€ to 1.557 M€. In parallel, long-term financing linked to the stadium goes from 16 M€ to 1.156 M€. Both figures grow at practically the same pace.

If the financing linked to the Bernabéu is excluded, the club's net debt is only 9 M€ (2025/26). That is why it is worth analysing the stadium and ordinary operations separately.

The 2025/26 development: the stadium loan starts to come down (from 1.132 to 1.108 M€) while cumulative investment reaches 1.408 M€. The bricks-and-mortar debt no longer only grows: it is starting to be repaid.

Financial — the billion-euro club#

No club had ever surpassed 1.000 M€ in annual revenue. Real Madrid has now gone beyond even 1.200 M€ — the first in the world.

Marketing and the stadium together generate 902 M€ (539 + 363). Television and international competitions, grouped together, contribute 319 M€. The economic scale is not explained by broadcasting rights alone: it is explained by brand, stadium and commercial operations.

The Bernabéu is no longer just an investment on the balance sheet: in 2025/26 it brings in 363 M€, more than double what it did before the works.

Cash — positive profit, liquidity and room to manoeuvre#

During COVID the club closed with practically symbolic profits: 313.000 € in 2019/20 and 874.000 € in 2020/21. The priority was not to earn more: it was to avoid slipping into losses.

In 2025/26 cash falls to 83 M€ —the club invested 192 M€ in facilities and technology and 161 M€ in signings— but keeps 475 M€ of undrawn credit lines.

Profitability — how much business the squad generates#

In a club that is neither listed nor has shareholders, the question is not how much the shareholder earns. The question is how much business the sporting structure generates.

In 2025/26 the club reinvested heavily in the squad (161 M€ in signings), so every euro of staff cost generates 2,2 € in revenue: slightly less than the 2024/25 record, but sustained. What is truly solid is the consistency: 26 consecutive years in profit.

Efficiency — margin against the reference threshold#

The ratio watched most closely in football is not wages, but the total cost of the squad: salaries plus the amortisation of signings over revenue.

The classic indicator —staff costs / operating revenue— stands at 46%, below the 50% the club sets as its excellence threshold (and well below the 70% recommended by the European Club Association).

Looking at salaries alone leaves out an important part of a squad's cost: the amortisation of signings. Adding it (squad cost of 618 M€ over 1.221 M€), the total sporting cost is 51%.

The 46% is the staff ratio cited by the club. The 51% is an expanded reading by Finoview that adds player amortisation.

Methodology and notice. The figures in this analysis come exclusively from the annual accounts published by the entity and its financial report. The study has been prepared with the utmost care but may contain transcription errors; Finoview is not liable for such errors or for decisions made based on this information, which is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. If you spot any figure that doesn't add up, email us at info@finoview.com and we'll review it.